IS terrorists in Chechnya instructed from Syrian center — source

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Militants of the Islamic State killed earlier this month in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya had received instructions from a single recruitment center in Syria, a local law enforcement source told TASS on Monday.

In mid-January, Chechnya’s law enforcers carried out a successful operation in several settlements of the Kurchaloyevsky district, in the republic’s east, killing four militants affiliated with the IS group. Two others were detained.

"The preliminary investigation found out that members of the IS group in the Kurchaloyevsky and Shalinsky districts [in Chechnya] were directed by a single recruitment center located in Syria mainly through the Internet," the source in the North Caucasus federal district said.

The IS militants planned to carry out several terrorist attacks against officials, law enforcers and religious figures in Chechnya. The details of the attacks were discussed with the representatives of the IS recruitment center in Syria, the source said.

Early on Monday, three militants were killed during a special operation in Chechnya’s town of Shali. Police tried to stop a group of suspicious individuals approaching a checkpoint but the men opened fire and threw a grenade. Two police officers died of sustained wounds.